Breakthroughs in Bioscience From NIH-Funded Basic Research to Improved Health Texas

National Institutes of Health (NIH)  Nation’s medical research agency  Funds the science that leads to medical advancement  Campus in Bethesda, MD – but most funding is distributed to university researchers and physicians throughout the United States  The Baylor University system ranks 19th amongst universities receiving NIH funding (>$211 M)  Texas ranked #5 in overall NIH awards in 2008 ($ 1.06 B)

Research Is Critical to Texas Economy  The proposed Galveston National Laboratory, with significant funding from NIH, is expected to bring $1.4 billion to the state during 20 years of operation  The estimated economic impact of Baylor on it’s surrounding area is 1,222.8 M  Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine research partnership ranks #1 in NIH funding for Pediatrics and Genetics research  More than a dozen bioscience research entities received approx. $164 million in NIH funding, and the bioscience industry as a whole has a local economic impact of $13 billion in San Antonio  The estimated total economic impact of just the construction of the Health Science Center at UTSA is almost $390 million for the San Antonio region

Leveraging the State’s Investment with Extramural Research Dollars  UT Southwestern and UT Dallas won an NIH grant in 2002 to establish the first NIH sickle cell center in the Southwest at the Children’s Medical Center of Dallas  The Health Science Center at UTSA is ranked in the top 50 U.S. academic health science centers in NIH funding, and is first among all U.S. medical centers in the number of grants received from the National Institute on Aging  The primary source of research funding is the National Institutes of Health

The NIH Top 20 Universities: An Elite Group 1.Johns Hopkins 2.UC San Francisco 3.Pennsylvania 4.Michigan – Ann Arbor 5.Washington 6.Washington U 7.Pitt 8.Yale 9.Duke 10.UCLA 11.UNC – Chapel Hill 12.UC San Diego 13.Stanford 14.Vanderbilt 15.Columbia 16.Minnesota 17.Wisconsin 18.Emory 19.Baylor 20.MIT

NIH: Saving Lives Through Science  Current annual budget of around $29.3 billion  Greater than 80% distributed throughout the country  More than 50,000 grants  212,000 scientists  2,800 universities  Portfolio of basic, translational, and clinical research NIH has been involved in nearly all the medical & health related discoveries of the past century

How NIH Makes Science Happen…  Researchers working at local universities, hospitals and research institutions are dependent on federal support to fund their research, hire lab personnel and train young scientists  They write research grant proposals to compete for funding  Must explain why they think it’s a good idea, how they’re going to do the experiments, and what impact it will have on science & medicine  Proposals are reviewed in a two-tiered system  Peer-reviewed by scientists to ensure highest quality science  Reviewed again for applicability to scientific or health priorities by NIH officials and other stakeholders, including public members  NIH review system is the envy of the world!  Very competitive!!!  Before - 1 in 3 proposals funded; now closer to 1 in 6  High quality research is not being done for lack of funding

Basic Research: From Bench to Bedside  Much of NIH funding goes to basic or fundamental research  Basic research is driven by interest in a scientific question  The main motivation is to expand knowledge and understanding, not to create or invent something  However, the insight into how the human body works and understanding of how diseases and disorders operate provides the foundation for medical progress "People cannot foresee the future well enough to predict what's going to develop from basic research. If we only did applied research, we would still be making better spears." Dr. George Smoot, Berkeley National Lab

What about medical breakthroughs?  Medical breakthroughs often come from unrelated areas of science or medicine  Research on cancer biology has led to drugs for: heart disease; viral diseases like influenza, Herpes & AIDS; and osteoporosis  Physicists studying the effects of magnets on atomic particles made the discovery that gave us MRI  Usually based on years or decades of fundamental knowledge  Over time, scientists solve or find different pieces of the puzzle  This makes it difficult to predict where the next breakthrough will come from  Makes it imperative to support a broad range of scientific research  Much of this research is too basic for the private sector  The federal investment often lays the foundation for advances in healthcare

Evolution of Research to Healthcare Selected modern examples…

Cardiovascular disease  Information on the biochemical structure & synthesis of cholesterol led to the development of statins  Discoveries in basic kidney biology and blood pressure regulation converged with an unexpected finding involving snake venom to yield ACE inhibitors, one of our most effective hypertension medications  Understanding how the blood clots, together with a new cancer treatment and the first commercial use of recombinant technologies, resulted in rtPA, a clot- busting drug that can prevent death from heart attack or stroke RESULTS?? 63% REDUCTION IN DEATHS FROM HEART DISEASE AND A 70% REDUCTION IN DEATHS DUE TO STROKE; MORE THAN 1 MILLION LIVES SAVED IN 2006 ALONE

Cardiovascular disease Deaths per 100,000 Year ~ 514,000 Actual Deaths in 2000 ~ 1,329,000 Projected Deaths in year Investment per American ~$ Total Economic return of improved treatment & prevention $2.6 TRILLION

HIV / AIDS  Fundamental knowledge of how viruses replicate gave scientists targets for therapy. Researchers looking for a new cancer drug hit one of those targets when they discovered a way to block replication, resulting in the development of AZT.  Increased understanding of how HIV operates at the cellular and molecular level identified more targets, and eventually led to the combination of drugs knows as the ‘triple cocktail.’ RESULTS?? AIDS HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED FROM AN ACUTE FATAL ILLNESS TO A CHRONIC CONDITION; THE PROPHYLACTIC USE OF ANTI-VIRALS PREVENTED ALMOST 350,000 DEATHS WORLDWIDE IN 2005

Deaths from AIDS dropped nearly 70% between 1995 and 2000 HIV / AIDS Survival rates for those infected with HIV has increased by 10 years

Cancer  Basic research into the shape and characteristics of the estrogen receptor gave us tamoxifen, which can reduce breast cancer incidence among women at risk by over 45%.  The breakthrough finding that human papillomavirus (HPV) could cause cervical cancer has led to a new vaccine that NIH estimated could reduce cervical cancer incidence by as much as 90%.  While investigating the cellular machinery controlling cell growth, scientists developed bortezomib - now used to treat patients with multiple myeloma. RESULTS?? FROM , CANCER DEATH RATES DROPPED 1.1% PER YEAR; MORE THAN 2/3 OF PEOPLE DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER CAN EXPECT TO LIVE 5+ YEARS

Cancer Millions of People Increase in Cancer Survivors 30-year Investment per American ~$ Total

Infant mortality  Studies on lung function led to the discovery of surfactant. This protein-lipid mixture is crucial for the survival of premature infants, decreasing the number of infant deaths from respiratory distress from 15,000 per year to less than 1,000.  The use of anti-virals to prevent mother to child HIV transmission has reduced the rate from 25% to about 1% in the U.S.  Studies on a metabolite of progesterone, known as progesterone 17P, have led to the finding that injections of this compound can reduce pre-term deliveries by as much as 30%, a particularly important result for African American women. RESULTS?? IN LESS THAN A CENTURY, INFANT MORTALITY IN THE U.S. HAS BEEN REDUCED BY 90%, TRANSLATING TO ALMOST 500,000 BABIES SAVED PER YEAR

NIH-Funded Discoveries at Baylor and University of Texas  Developed the first cardiac stent approved by the FDA for use in keeping coronary arteries open (University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio)  Baylor is one of the seven institutions leading the NIH’s effort to evaluate new vaccines for avian flu  Discovered a genetic marker that may identify individuals at greater risk of life-threatening infection from the West Nile virus. (Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston)  Developed a DNA vaccine for Chlamydia pheumoniae. (The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler)  Baylor is in the process of conducting clinical research trials for diabetes, skin cancer, colon cancer and heart disease

The Bottom Line…  People are living longer, healthier lives because of NIH funded medical research  What were once swiftly fatal illnesses have become treatable or manageable conditions  For those suffering from diseases that have no current treatment or cure, medical research provides hope – which has a major impact on quality of life

The Challenge…  NIH funding is entirely dependent on Congressional support  In recent years, Congressional support has diminished, and the NIH budget is slowly eroding from lack of funding and inflation  Lack of understanding in Congress about the importance of medical research and the treatments and hope it provides  As the NIH budget falls, Texas’ success rate also falls Diminished investment in NIH = loss of talented researchers = missed opportunities = delays in medical progress

Texas Members of Congress Need to Advocate for NIH Funding  Nothing should surpass improving our health as a national priority  Opportunities for discoveries that translate to improved health for our citizens have never been greater  Baylor consistently ranks in the top 10% for research funding

We Need your Help: Working Together for NIH  Contact Senators Cornyn and Hutchison, or the Congressional Representative for your district  Let them know that medical research is important to you and what a bargain it is  Write a letter to the newspaper and talk to your friends  Help educate policymakers and neighbors about the important work NIH is doing  Nothing is more important than our health  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) should be an American priority

Want to know more?? Please visit Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)